The Resurrection Story
by iBlewupthemoon
Summary: Foreign exchange student James Kozuki goes to Mitakihara from the US. He discovers there is more to this strange city than meets the eye.
1. Natural Disaster

James Kozuki continued walking through the almost surreal corridor. Several questions were floating through his head. "How did I get here?" "Where am I?" "Someone pinch me."

He continued walking until it led to a rocky area. He saw many incomprehensible things around unfold, mostly involving what he thought was furniture, but what he was able to comprehend was a young girl with black hair and a red ribbon lying on a small stone structure that was almost like a tomb.

Two other girls were there, one red-haired, the other yellow-haired, placing something on her probably unconscious or dead body. Then a bright figure with long, flowing, pink hair appeared in a strange anomaly. She was speaking, but to him it was very much muffled, as he was a far distance away. She came towards the girl on the tomb, probably to bring the girl with her.

But the black-haired girl said something, and violently grabbed the pink-haired girl.

That was when James woke up.

James rubbed his eyes, still feeling the vividness of the dream. He ate his breakfast, still trying to shake off the dream. He looked at his watch, he noticed the sapphire ring his father gave him to bring was glowing. "Odd. it wasn't doing that earlier." he thought to himself. He went to put on his uniform. In the states, his school didn't have a mandatory uniform, but as a foreign exchange student, he now has to get used to new customs.

"You two look cute!" said Madoka's mother looking at both James and her daughter.

"Geez, Kaname-san, don't take it the wrong way." James replied.

They both walked together to school. James was trying to keep a low profile, as he didn't want to make people think him and Madoka were going out or anything. To be honest he never really had any luck with ladies.

"So how hard is Japanese middle school?" James asked.

"Pretty hard!" Madoka replied, "though that's coming from someone who's not that good at this sort of thing."

They arrived at the classroom just in time. They first introduced Madoka. He heard the teacher say that she just transferred from the states herself.

James was then introduced. "This is James Kozuki." the teacher said. "He is a foreign exchange student from the United States. He is actually half-Japanese himself, from his father's side. Give him a warm welcome and let him get accustomed to Japan."

Students later took turns asking questions about life in the US. "So you're saying your dad's Japanese?" "Yes, both my parents actually taught me the language when I was young, so it's kind of a second language to me."

During the questions. A black-haired girl similar to the one in his dream asked for Madoka. They then left. James was suspiscious.

"Excuse me, I need to use the bathroom." he said and left to try and follow Madoka and the other girl. He tried to follow them but ran into a young man carrying a violin case. He caught it in the nick of time.

"Oh, God. That was close." James said.

"Yeah, I say." said the boy. "I remember. You're the Kozuki kid from earlier. I'm Kyosuke Kamijo."

"Nice to meet you." James said.

They met up with Madoka later for lunch. She brought a friend along with her.

"This is Sayaka. We met at PE." Madoka said.

"Hi." Sayaka replied.

"I met Kyosuke by saving his violin." James said.

"Good thing too, that was 500,000 yen to buy."

Sayaka whistled. "Natural disaster prevented."

"Me and Sayaka played a game of Volleyball together. We did okay, I guess." said Madoka.

Sayaka replied, "We lost 2-20!"

"At least we got a couple!"

James chuckled.

"Hey!" Madoka said "It was good!"

"You changed your ribbons." James said to Madoka.

"Oh, that girl gave them to me. I hope they're not too flashy." she replied

"Looks pretty good." he said

James tagged along as Madoka and Sayaka were heading to the mall. However, he heard something coming out of an abandoned building. He told Madoka he was heading towards the hardware store and went into the building.

He looked around for about a minute. He didn't come up with anything. "Must be my imagination. I actually caught a glimpse of a good deal on something at the hardware store so I might as well go."

"Not so fast!" someone said, it was the girl from earlier.

"What do you want." he said.

"Give me the ring." she demanded.

"Yo, I didn't expect someone who gives their hair ribbons to be a mugger. That's my dad's." he replied.

"If you care about Madoka the way I do, you will give me it." she said.

He grabbed a nearby 2x4. "I warn you strange lady, don't bring her into this."

Out of the blue, she instantly grabbed the 2x4 and knocked James out cold.

Next thing he knew, he was in a storage room. He heard her say something about not being able to take it off and that she'll find some use for him.

He noticed another girl beside him. She looked almost exactly like the other girl, except with braided hair and glasses.

to be continued.


	2. Dreams

"Is this some sort of ruse?" James asked the girl.

"Huh?" she replied.

"You're obviously the girl who captured me earlier, you just changed your hair and added glasses." he said

"No, no, no." she said. "She's a duplicate of me. I don't know how, but she is."

"Okay then answer something only she would know, what did you give Madoka Kaname?"

"Who's she?" she asked, with utmost sincerity.

"My God, so you aren't the same. I'm sorry if I troubled you."

"That's okay, I'm confused as well."

"What's your name?"

"Homura Akemi. You?"

"James Kozuki."

"Foreign, perhaps?"

"Part American. My father's Japanese."

He checked his cellphone, but the battery was dead. "Damn, no chance of contacting Madoka at this rate," he said

"I can't remember what happened. But something happened so that me and the other one split." said Homura.

"Join the amnesia club, I'm having trouble remembering everything before today. Plus I had this weird dream that keeps coming back to haunt me."

"That's kinda freaky."

They looked around for a while. "I can't see any other exits." Homura said.

"I found a cracked wall, I might be able to bust through there." said James.

James pushed through the wall. It broke, leaving an opening just big enough for both him and Homura to get through.

He noticed his ring was lighting up while he was pushing. "That's odd." he said.

He and Homura when down two stories to find the exit. "We're almost there." he said.

Right as he was saying that, mysterious familiars taking the shape of the other two girls in his dream appeared. They were about to attack when Homura grasped his hand and time stopped when she inexplicably changed into a different outfit.

"Do you know how to operate a gun?" she asked.

"I actually shot for sport some." James replied.

She tossed him a gun that somehow came out of a shield on her arm. She grabbed one of her own and they both fired at the familiars. The bullets somehow stopped in midair.

She then resumed time and the bullets took out the familiars.

Some more familiars were about to make a move when they were suddenly taken out by a blue streak and some gunfire.

It was Sayaka, accompanied by the yellow-haired girl from his dream.

"Hardware store, my ass." she said.

"Let me expla…" James said, before Sayaka started violently interrogating Homura at swordpoint.

"Explain yourself, _devil_" she said.

"W-w-what do you want?" she asked sheepishly.

"If you want the devil, you're looking at the wrong person." the clone said coming out of nowhere. "Freak of nature, though she is."

Sayaka did a double take. She eventually pointed her sword at the supposed clone. "You got real balls showing up here, Homura. Capturing James was a bad move."

"Wait, _she's _Homura too?" James asked.

The clone Homura tossed a school uniform to the other Homura. "I might as well not bother." the clone said. "the naïve one might as well take my place."

"If you try to harm us magical girls or our friends again, you will be sorry." the yellow-haired girl said to the clone.

"Why is it, when I try to fix other people's messes, you have to make more?" the clone asked.

"Speak for yourself. Get to the point" said Sayaka.

"I'll be back." said the clone, and then vanished.

"What a douche." James said.

They started heading back home. "I'm sorry I lied to you and Madoka, I was curious what about a noise coming from the building." said James.

"That's okay." said Sayaka. She spoke to Homura. "Sorry I barged on you like that. That clone is pissing me off and I don't know why, something about a devil."

"Join the amnesia club." said Homura.

"That's my joke" said James.

"I'm Mami" the yellow-haired girl said to James. "Feel free to come by anytime. I live by myself."

"You have no parents?" James asked.

"Probably not," she replied, "My mind is fuzzy."

James made it back home and he was on the receiving end of a vicious hug of relief courtesy of Madoka.

"You're alright!" she said.

"Why didn't you answer our calls?" her father asked.

"Phone died." James replied. "How convenient."

"Don't worry." Mr. Kaname replied, "We're planning to buy Madoka a better phone tomorrow, anyway. You can upgrade as well."

Someone came in through the door as they were talking. It was Mrs. Kaname, visibly drunk.

"How y'all doing!?" she asked, before collapsing.

"Oh shit." James muttered as he helped her to a chair with some ice.

"So, does this happen a lot?" James asked Madoka.

"On occasion. She's trying to not drink as hard on times like this, though it still tends to happen."

Out of the blue, he asked, "Do you ever feel like you experience amnesia?"

"Now that you mentioned it," she replied. "I might remember having superpowers or something, but it only feels like a dream."

"So," James said. "Dreams."

to be continued…


	3. Whole Foods

"I'm still angry at you for not going to the Hardware Store." said Sayaka as she was eating her lunch.

"I was going to say that I was sidetracked." said James; "right before you nearly skewered Homura."

"W-Where is Kyoske?" asked a suddenly flustered Sayaka.

"He's having lunch with Hitomi. She was a little on edge after he had lunch with us without her." said James. Sayaka donned a subtly pouty face, but kept her composure.

"So, Homura, how is school going." asked Madoka.

"Pretty good, actually, I'm actually pretty good at academics. I'm actually pretty good at PE too."

"_Pretty _good?", replied Sayaka, "You nearly beat 'your own' prefecture record this morning ."

James was heading down to Mami's apartment for tea and cakes when he ran into Kyoske.

"Oh hey James. Just took Hitomi home." he said

"Yeah, how's it going with you two?" James replied.

"Oh, pretty good. She's sweet and all, but can be a bit of a pain sometimes."

"Aren't we all?" James said

"Sometimes I wonder how I got to going out with her sometimes. Every day I feel like someone is much more better for me: someone who has changed my life and I couldn't have had this quality of life without." said Kyoske.

"I'm sure you'll find the right person. Don't you worry." James said and patted Kyoske's back and went on his merry way.

James rang Mami's doorbell. When the door opened, he was greeted by an energetic white-haired girl. "He's here! He's here!" she said.

"Thanks Nagisa." said Mami.

Sayaka, Mami, Homura and a red haired girl like the one from his dream was there, holding a bag of apples she was eating.

"You won't believe where Kyoko got those apples." said Sayaka, with a disconcerting look on her face.

"Whole Foods?" James asked.

"What's that?" asked Sayaka.

"Oh, right, Whole Foods isn't in Japan."

"I _stole _'em" said Kyoko, tossing him one.

He ate it. "This is good" remarked James.

"No, it's bad. She stole food." replied Sayaka.

He ignored her. "You remind me of a certain anime character." James said to Kyoko. while eating.

They both laughed. Sayaka donned a very pouty expression.

"Well, James." said Mami. "I guess you can tell what we are."

"Superheroes?" asked James.

"Close. The actual term is magical girls. We fight off familiars in the city. We have yet to find how we became them, or practically our entire pasts, but I think we might be getting closer." said Mami.

"Then what's our next step?" asked James.

"Well, since most of us are newcomers, I think introductions are in order."

I'm Mami, I have ribbon and musket-based powers."

"'Sup, I'm Sayaka, I have swords and can heal myself".

"I'm Kyoko, I have this big-ass spear."

"I-I'm Homura, I can stop time and have a b-bunch of guns."

"Uh, hello, I'm James Kozuki, and I don't have any powers, I think."

Mami continued. "Okay, so now that's out of the way. The first thing we need to find out, is why there's a clone of Homura.

" "Better yet, why there's a bunch of knockoffs of me and Mami floating around." added Kyoko.

"That too" said Mami. James tried to start a conversation "So, we need a name. The Holy Quintet? The Five Amigos? The...Breakfast Club?". They didn't respond

Two groups went out to scout the area that night to look for familiars.

Sayaka and Mami went in one group, while James, Kyoko, and Homura went in another. Kyoko got bored and went to the arcade.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked James.

"Sure" said Kyoko, playing DDR with Pocky in her mouth. "No Familiars have popped up for two hours now. Just cool down."

"Okay, if you insist." he replied

About fifteen minutes passed without an incident. It was dark, and James thought he saw something glowing in the deserted outside area. "_Naw, I'm just tired." _thought James.

Then, he felt something creeping up behind him. He couldn't pretend anymore and socked a familiar that was behind him in the face, dissolving it instantly.

Kyoko got out of her game. "You okay?" she said.

"Guys, I think there is more of them out there." said Homura, already transformed. Kyoko transformed in a flash of red and chased at a couple of familiars outside, taking them out with her spear. Homura used her time-stopping abilities to take out two at once with her Barreta and flash right where Kyoko was.

James rushed out. "There's one trying to make a run for it!" he exclaimed. He chased after it and followed it to the top of a bridge. It tried to shoot its musket at James, but he dodged it. It jumped off the bridge to try and escape. Homura with Kyoko in hand flashed to his location and James threw a rock at it as it was trying to escape and it was defeated.

Kyoko got a headache after what he defeated the familiar.

"You okay?" he asked.

"I'm having a bad case of deja vu here. I feel like I witnessed someone throw something off this bridge and I learned something terrible about myself." said Kyoko

"It's nothing." James said. "You may be right." Kyoko said.

They met back with Sayaka and Mami.

"James punched a familiar in the face!" said Kyoko.

"You may have something special after all." said Mami.

"Now that you mention it, my ring seems to glow when I perform acts of strength, like running or pushing something. This ring seems to be holding some kind of untapped potential." he said

"Whatever it is, you are a pretty good magical girl." said Mami.

"You need a better term than that for me."

To be continued.


	4. As Good As It Gets

James was at the kitchen table drinking water one night. He was having trouble sleeping due to the events of the last few days. Madoka's mom came downstairs.

"I guess I'm not the only one having trouble sleeping", she said.

"Yeah, I guess so." James replied. Junko poured some liquor for herself.

"This stuff might help you get to sleep, but you're not quite legal yet." she said.

"I did hear alcohol can help with trouble sleeping." he replied

Junko paused.

"I remember you stumbling up to our door in the middle of the night you arrived. You were bruised and limping. You had the documents we needed that were in barely passable condition. You were unconscious for three days." she said.

James was puzzled, and said, "I must've forgot that, I must have taken a crazy blow to the head."

"That same night, there was a terrible car crash in town that killed an American family," Junko said. "The bodies were nearly unidentifiable, but they found out it was your family in the crash." You apparently managed to escape alive.", she continued.

James was perplexed. "So, what happens now?", James asked, with his head against the wall in a stupor.

"They made us your legal guardians for now. Time will tell if this will apply after your exchange period is up." she said.

James quickly recovered. "Thank you. For everything." he said, and then went off to bed.

"Good night." Junko said, taking the last sip of liquor.

Madoka didn't feel that well that morning, so James left for school by himself and got out a little early. As he was headed for school he was met by a strange person dressed in a coat and dress shirt who looked about his age. He was normal except for that he appeared to be albino.

"Oh. James Kozuki, I presume." the man said.

"How do you know my name." James replied.

"Oh, I get around." the man replied.

"Well, I _don't _get around, so I want to know what's your's", asked James.

"Just call me Q.", the man replied. "No relation to the one from Star Trek.", he added

"Pleasure meeting you.", James said.

Q began to walk off and said "The pleasure was all mine."

James got a look at Q and he had a ring similar to his own, except that it was gold with a red gem instead of silver with a blue gem.

James was sitting on a bench later that afternoon still trying to figure out what he was told by Madoka's mom.

"So, life sucking for you too, huh?", Kyoko asked as she approached and sat with him, eating from a bag of chips.

He chuckled and replied, "I guess. I found my family was recently killed in a brutal car accident. I was the only survivor but I remember none of it, just like everything else before my first day of school."

"At least you know what has happened to your family, I have no recollection of my family. I have lived alone for as far as I can remember. There are things that might be slipping through my big head, though. I have been gone from home for a long while and have advanced as a magical girl since then.", Kyoko replied.

"Do you have a home?", asked James.

"I live with Sayaka. It's 'bout as good as it gets." she replied.

She lightened up and said, "It's a bit early, but we could find a couple of familiars in the more darker places."

"Sounds freaky", James replied.

Kyoko handed him a silenced Glock and said, "Got this from Homura. This might help a little more than a pebble." James chuckled.

James and Kyoko made it to a dark alley to look for familiars.

James took the Glock out of the bag it was concealed in. They looked for a while and didn't find any familiars. A Mami familiar then appeared in an abandoned balcony nearby. They both noticed it, but James had the fastest reaction time and shot it down first.

"Not bad", Kyoko said.

"That wasn't too bad, I think I'm getting the hang of this." James said.

"Why don't we split up. Meet up with me at the abandoned church." She dashed off in another direction and he continued straight.

He found an old courtyard. "This is a bit quiet." he thought to himself.

Then a Kyoko familiar ambushed him from behind, but he took it out before it injured him. A Mami familiar was in a nearby balcony and fired at him and missed. He shot it quickly and took it out. Another Kyoko familiar then rushed at him and he fired several shots at it and missed, emptying the clip. He put it back in the bag. He found an old combat knife in a bush and motioned towards it, dodging the familiar's spear. He grabbed it, dodged another blow and killed the familiar with the knife. He then put the knife in the bag. He then went towards the abandoned church to meet with Kyoko.

As he went towards the church, he met Kyoske, who looked very disheveled.

Catching his breath, he said "Well, I had a date with Hitomi. It seemed to be going good, but we then had a huge fight, her saying that 'I was more devoted to music than her' or something."

"The usual kind of BS, I understand." James replied.

"Well, that's the end of that relationship." Kyoske said.

"Who knows, maybe someone who fell in love with you because of your music will meet you." James said.

"Maybe you're right. Gotta run, she wants my head," Kyoske replied, before dashing off.

A green-haired girl he assumed was Hitomi came by and said. "Did you meet up with some brown-haired freak recently?" She had a very unnaturally vicious face.

He shrugged and she ran off in some hair-brained direction. He continued towards the church.

James entered the church, as it was approaching night. The church had a lot of damage, like someone went berserk and starting destroying stuff. He went up the stairs to look for Kyoko. The damaged stained-glass windows seemed very somber, even more with the many holes in them.

He finally found Kyoko after going up several steps. However, she was on her knees, in a situation James would never imagine someone like her being in: crying.

To be continued.


	5. See You There

"I remember everything." Kyoko said.

She continued. "We were tricked by some weasel named Kyubey who stole our souls. He let us all die: all for the sake of his bullshit scheme of 'entropy' or some crap. Time has been reset God knows how many times, and we are still being played." She was sobbing violently the entire time

"What is this place?" James said.

Kyoko began to recover and said, "I originally thought it was just an abandoned old church. Turns out my father was the minister here. I became a magical girl to help him become successful. He went ape when he found out who was responsible for his spike in popularity and killed everyone but me and killed himself."

"What did you do then." asked James.

"I originally trained under Mami. But after my father's rampage, I went freelance and fought only for myself, but saw the light later. One timeline, I apparently sacrificed myself to save Sayaka from dying alone." Kyoko replied.

James sighed. "You know they're gonna think you're crazy when we tell them what you found out.", he said.

"I have a hunch they'll find out for themselves." said Kyoko. "We need to leave. The others probably are worrying where we've gone to." she added.

She moved closer and said "Thanks for holding out for me. I owe you one."

They began to go down the steps when Kyoko looked out a damaged window behind them and saw Clone Homura. "Son of a bitch." Kyoko said.

Kyoko transformed and leaped out the window. She said to Clone Homura. "You have balls coming out here. I know everything now, how you tricked us and captured Madoka. How you erased our memories"

"All I wanted was everyone to be happy." said Clone Homura.

"By erasing our memories of everything!? By betraying the one who saved our lives from witches and leaving us in this hell!?" Kyoko replied.

"Sometimes, ignorance is better than knowing all the gory details of your failure. You know too much. For what is right, you must be eliminated!" said Clone Homura, who spawned several Kyoko familiars at once who pointed their spears at her.

Homura disappeared, leaving Kyoko to fend off her own familiars.

She pulled her hairpin and began to mutter something unintelligible. James looked and tried to decipher what Kyoko was trying to say. She was saying the Lord's Prayer!

"_Kyoko!" _James screamed.

"You have incredible resolve for an unofficial mage." said Clone Homura, who appeared in the church.

"Get the hell away from me." said James, who grabbed the combat knife from the bag.

"No one will believe your story from Kyoko. Her secret will likely die with her." the clone said.

He tried to attack Clone Homura, who vanished and he went to fall down the steps in a clumsy stupor.

The clone aimed a gun at him from the top of the stairs. "You will never win. I can't contain Kyubey for too long. You don't want to really see him." she said

"Where is he?" asked James.

"Dunno. I briefly overcame him, but I didn't catch him at the peak of his true power and now he's gone loose." replied the clone.

"I will end you, even if it means hunting you down the the edge of the Earth." said James

The clone smirked and replied, "Then I'll see you there." And Clone Homura disappeared.

James ran toward where Kyoko continued to fight off the familiars. She was easily mowing them down, but she was obviously tired and weakened.

James grabbed a loaded gun that Clone Homura left. He jumped out the window and helped shoot down the rest of the familiars that Kyoko was fighting.

Kyoko was worn out and went out of her transformation. She handed James the jewel that helped her transform. It was cracked, and the crack was quickly expanding.

To be continued.


	6. What a Loony

"Wow, what a fight." said Kyoko.

"Uh, Kyoko. This doesn't look good." James said, referring to the cracked gem.

"Oh, I knew I would end up dead as soon as one of those little suckers scuffed my soul gem." Kyoko replied.

"Wait, this contains _your soul!?" _said James.

"Why, yes." said Kyoko. She continued, "At least we didn't have to worry about it corrupting, something about your ring is keeping everyone in the game."

James was speechless, he was thinking of every possible method to prevent Kyoko's death.

Kyoko laid down and said, "That clone is wrong, the truth will slip eventually, and Kyubey will come out of hiding and we can finally live a normal life again. Would you like that?"

James tried to hold her up. "I'm sorry Kyoko." he said. "I'm the reason you're dying, and everyone else is going to die."

"Don't worry James. The clone Homura is her deeply troubled side. Maybe she can come back." she said. The soul gem was further cracking "I just wished I could live to see it."

She closed her eyes, and the soul gem shattered.

The normal Homura came by, "Oh no…" she said.

She and James were quietly crying together. He began to hold his head up, with a tear falling when he said. "We are going to avenge Kyoko." He stood up and said to Homura. "There was a lot Kyoko found out before she died. We need to bring Kyoko's body back to Mami's place.

Homura nodded her head. "I guess."

He texted Madoka. "I'm gonna be late tonight, make sure mom knows."

They quietly and stealthily carried Kyoko to Mami's apartment. Mami, Sayaka, and even Nagisa's jaws dropped when they popped in with Kyoko's body.

"What...happened?" said Mami

James explained everything about Kyoko's recollection, their encounter with Clone Homura, and her death.

"I believe you." said Mami. "This is a most unusual turn of events. Maybe you and Sayaka can work it out tomorrow afternoon." she continued

They separated and went home, James hardly got any sleep after what happened the last few hours.

At breakfast James was having a hard time eating. "Is something the matter?" said Madoka's mom.

"Nothing really," he hastily replied. He ate some of the food. "This is some pretty good breakfast."

James met with Kyosuke, Sayaka, and Madoka for lunch. It had just stopped raining.

"It looks pretty beautiful outside." Madoka said.

"Yeah, finally" James and Sayaka said simultaneously, still thinking about last night.

"Well, I'm finally loose of Hitomi." said Kyosuke. There was much rejoicing from the four of them.

"Yeah, she's kinda crazy, glad for that to end." said James.

Sayaka was still oogling at Kyosuke. "You alright?" he asked Sayaka.

"Y-yeah" she replied. Kyosuke blushed a little as well. James rolled his eyes.

James was about to meet up with Sayaka after school to help find answers to Kyoko's murder when that Q fellow showed up again. "Hello." he said to James.

"Hi…" James replied.

"Anything eventful happened the past few hours?" Q asked.

"Nothing." James lied.

"Hmm. I doubt it" Q replied to James. "I hope to meet up with you later." he continued as he walked away

"What a loony." said James.

He finally met up with Sayaka at the train station. The train was mostly empty, since it was well after the post-school rush hour.

Sayaka was experiencing some headaches on the train. "Something come up?" asked James.

"I feel like I was losing my way at some point and met some shifty guys right before something crazy was about to happen." she replied.

"Okay," he said.

"I felt like there was something that caused it, something I didn't have, but maybe…" she began to look back up. "...I might have now." said Sayaka.

The door opened, and Kyosuke was there.

Sayaka held James back. "I'll meet with you later."

Sayaka dashed off the train and and it moved on with just James on it. It stopped at the mall.

It was strangely deserted, it shouldn't be that deserted at this time of day.

An old lady passed by. "There's ghosts in there. Everyone suddenly left." she said.

He entered anyway, this probably meant familiars.

Indeed, not long after entering, a Kyoko familiar ambushed him, he dodged a spear volley. He shot it with a silenced glock he had in his bag. "That was for the real Kyoko." he stated.

Two Mami familiars ambushed him from above. He shot one and he grabbed the knife from his bag and took out the other one.

He then came face to face with another familiar of Kyoko. This one was more clearer than the others. He tried to combat it but he got slashed in the stomach. He was in bad pain for a second and fell to the ground. This familiar seemed to have the skills of an actual magical girl. The only way he could possibly combat it is having a magical transformation of his own.

Speaking of which, it was subjected to musket fire and it fled in an instant.

It was Mami, she ambushed the familiar and it quickly fled.

She held out her hand to help him up, his stomach wound was strangely already healed as well.

To be continued.


	7. Only A Matter of Time

"You okay?" Mami asked James.

"Yeah." James replied as he brushed himself off.

"These familiars seem to be improving. Before long, they will be just as dangerous as an actual magical girl". Mami said.

She paused for a second.

"I was walking around after school for a while. With Kyoko and now Sayaka regaining their memories, I might as well do some soul searching of my own." she said.

"Wait, Sayaka unlocked her memories back there?" asked James.

"Yeah, Kyosuke asked her out and she realized that he was the reason she became a magical girl. She wished for him to recover from a career-ending arm injury." she replied

"So, everything is coming together now." he said.

Mami continued. "I've done some soul-searching of my own. I know I was Kyoko's teacher, I once shunned her for her selfishness, but, beyond my own grave, she did the most selfless thing of all, gave up her life for Sayaka, so she won't die alone. This happened in a earlier timeline, and I knew I was up to something when I recruited her just a few days ago."

James started to speak "Only Homura and me are left with amnesia, it's only a matter of time before…" He was interrupted by the phone.

"**Come down to the apartment, quick. Homura is **_**gone!" **_Sayaka loudly proclaimed to James over his phone.

They quickly got to the apartment. Sayaka was using her soul gem to preserve Kyoko's body. She then came over and said, "Me and Homura were discussing our options on getting rid of the body, and suddenly, she _vanished!"_

"Any idea who's responsible?" Mami asked

"Homura...Akuma." Sayaka replied.

"Huh?" James asked.

"My new name for that bastard clone. My epiphany brought back faint glimpses of her claiming to be some sort of devil. She obviously wants that part of her marked out, and now she's probably about to do the deed." said Sayaka.

"I guess we need to haul if we are to save her." said James.

It was late at night, and they searched all around. Their last stop before they were going to call it quits was the parking garage."

"God, do you really think she would go to the top level?" asked Sayaka, her joints aching as they were searching.

"You wanna save Homura or not? We are searching this place front to back if us three are to save her." James replied.

They reached the top level. And sure enough, Homura Akuma was there to greet them, with a gun pointed to a cold, unconscious Homura Akemi.

To be continued.


	8. The Fall

"You better make this nonviolent, I have an entire clip and I can kill all of you plus her." Homura Akuma replied.

Mami said "I have unlimited muskets on me, _you _are the one who should…"

All of a sudden, Mami both encased herself and Sayaka in ribbons, but not by her command.

"Not me," Akuma said pitifully.

"Bitch, please." said Sayaka.

Akuma pulled the gun on Sayaka and said. "Not another toe out of line."

She continued, "I sent the familiars after the magical girls to distract them from regaining their memories from my memory wipe. They could fight them forever. After all, I set their souls to regenerate by themselves. I now had to freeze time and fix what I've done wrong."

"Well, look where that brought you." said James. "Now almost all of them know their pasts, their misery, and their despair. But they also know the hope that they got from their friends and lovers. Killing us won't change that. It didn't change it for Kyoko."

Homura Akuma was furious "**Well, why do **_**you **_**care!? You are not even supposed to **_**be **_**here! You never saw what I tried to do to protect the ones I loved, my very best friends! You are hiding someone in that ring, you perfect pretty boy! If it is unleashed, I will never see my loved one again!" **

"Well." said James. "You obviously will never see the perfectly conscious person behind you."

Akuma turned around and Homura Akemi was conscious, albeit still pale from when she was suddenly abducted and whisked away in frozen time.

"You stubborn bitch!" Akuma said to Akemi. She shot the entire clip, missing every time in a frenzy except once. But she didn't hit the target she hoped to hit.

James took the shot right in the head.

As he was falling straight into a nearby string of bushes, he could faintly hear Homura screaming his name in terror.

As he was falling to the ground, he saw the building violently implode, with everyone else still inside.

With the shock of everything that just happened coming into place, James shed a single tear, and breathed his last.

Or did he?

James woke up in a ethereal environment of pure white. He was wearing a caped tunic of various shades of brown, like his hair, with a short frilled collar. He looked around and found the pink-haired girl from his dream, in a long flowy white dress.

"Greetings James Kozuki," she said, "I am Madoka Kaname."

"Oo….kay" he replied

She continued, "I am so glad I was able to stumble across you at my darkest hour. I was about to be cast out by the fake devil Homura. You were a good person to latch onto to help keep watch."

"Wait, what did you do?" James asked.

"When I realized my mistake in being lured toward the other Homura was going to kill me, I latched my soul on your ring as well as the and you have done wonders with it." she replied

"Wait, so if that Homura was the one who killed me, then where did the other one come from?" James asked

"Long before my upheaval, Homura and the rest of the magical girls valiantly fought evil beings known as wraiths and Homura completely drained her soul. I collected her, but someone split her naive and pragmatic personas before I could actually collect her. It must of been a large-scale brainwashing process. After I was defeated by the devil Homura, I brought back the souls of Sayaka, Nagisa, and what I had of Homura to help you bring back balance. Mami and later Kyoko were already there to help you, but apparently the unknown enemy began to copy them and use them as minions." Madoka replied

"Who's this unknown enemy." asked James.

"Even I don't know, it could be a being named Kyubey, but he has since vanished from me since he was captured by the devil Homura." she said.

"Well, I'm dead. everyone else is dead. So what now?" James asked.

"Don't be so sure, you mongrel." a familiar voiced replied. It was Kyoko.

Kyoko continued, "She has more power than you know. So does your friends"

"I can send you back, if you so want." said Madoka

"Let's" said James. "I got a planet to save."

To be continued.


	9. West Hemisphere

It was early the next morning, and James woke up. He was greeted by a familiar face.

"Kozuki-kun's awake!" Nagisa said.

James grasped his forehead as if last night was all a bad dream. It probably wasn't, as he still had blood on his head though the bullethole was gone.

She offered him a wet cloth and he wiped the blood off his head.

"Good as new!" she said, grinning.

"Yeah, I guess." James replied.

James started walking through downtown with Nagisa tagging along. He grabbed a change of clothes and a baseball cap to prevent him from being followed by Homura Akuma, and possibly avoid the annoying Q fellow

He decided to grab a bite to eat at a place called "West Hemisphere Bar and Grill" at the corner of downtown.

When he and Nagisa sat down at a table they were bombarded with free appetizers.

"Woah, slow down. I can't eat all this all at once." James said to the middle-aged man with a short beard who gave him all the food. He was beginning to change his mind when Nagisa was devouring all the cheese sticks.

"Oh, that's okay. You two are my first customers in days. I thought I was about to have to close for a third time," the owner said.

"Wait, what?" asked James. Nagisa was pausing with the cheese sticks.

The owner began telling a story. "You see, I lived in the states most of my life. I opened my own pub back in '91 and it was a great success, until I had to close it a year later to take care of my wife, who was dying of cancer."

"Golly," Nagisa replied

"It gets worse. I couldn't find the cash to pay for my wife's care, so I made the worst mistake of my life...I started selling drugs. They caught me with them and I spent 15 years in prison. Meanwhile, I get the news my wife died while I was in jail, and I was _depressed. _But a fellow cellmate told me this.

'Never forget.  
Always, somewhere,  
Someone is fighting for you.  
As long as you remember her,  
You are not alone.'

I have never forgotten those words."

"Deep, man" James replied.

"So, I decide to make a new life for myself in Japan, make a new pub, all is well until a drunken riot breaks out and I was forced to close for six months. I recently got my license back, though the bar is closed until further notice. But no one will overlook the bloody riot that this place is associated with."

James thanked the owner for the meal. "I swear in all my power, your pub will return to the map."

He and Nagisa continued walking along, as it got dark, he was walking in a park, when suddenly he was surrounded by several familiars. And the Prime Kyoko familiar was one of them. "Ah, Crap" said James.

To be continued.


	10. The Magi

Nagisa jumped in front of the James. "I'll protect you, Kozuki-kun!"

She transformed into a magical girl uniform, it was more unusual as it looked like a cross between pajamas and a Halloween costume.

She blew into a trumpet she carried and high-speed bubbles came shooting out. They were able to massacre the weaker familiars and push back the Prime familiar. She made a frontal assault on the Prime by using stronger bubbles to gain height, all while dodging furious long-range spear blows. She then jumped the Prime and gave it a nice punch in the face. It was sent flying several meters. She started firing bubbles at the Prime, with it struggling to block them.

It then rushed Nagisa and threw her several meters. She recovers quickly and tries the jump strategy, but instead with a midair bubble volley. It seemed mildly scathed and it retaliated with a crushing blow with the blunt end of the spear, knocking her into a tree and forcing her to drop her magical girl form.

"Well." James said. "Here goes nothing." He raised his ring. He experienced a flash of light around him, time seemed to slow, and his clothes were transforming into the same tunic that he was wearing in his visit with Madoka in the ethereal-verse, only it was pure white, and another difference in appearance as well.

"Kozuki-kun, your eyes!", Nagisa said. His eyes apparently turned from deep blue to a bright golden. "It's the splitting image of Madoka-san!"

He summoned a longsword and prepared to take on the Prime Kyoko familiar. She rushed him and he easily blocked most of its blows with the sword. He then pushed it back with a brutal slash. It took a second to recover from that one. James attacked it with an air slash which it blocked, but it looked taxing on the Prime. Nagisa got up and made another volley of bubbles. This provided a perfect distraction for James to dish out the finishing blow.

The Prime quickly dissolved into countless particles. Nagisa and James watched the strangely beautiful sight for several moments.

James and Nagisa returned to the apartment. Shockingly, they were violently hugged by Homura, Mami, and Sayaka. "**We thought you were dead!**" Sayaka said to James.

"Yeah, that's a long story. I thought _you _were dead." he replied.

"That's _also _a long story." Mami replied. "When Akuma was about to blow up the parking deck, Homura stopped time and we were able to escape with her. Knowing her, she probably dashed as well."

James then explained his visit by Madoka on death's door, the resurrection, and his defeat of the prime familiar of Kyoko.

"Well, that may explain all of the Kyoko familiars vanishing when we were fighting them tonight." Sayaka said.

"It must have acted as a center control for the rest of the familiars." said James. "If we can take out a Mami one, we can eliminate the familiar problem altogether.

"If I confront Akuma myself, then she might release one with bearing my likeness." Mami said.

"It's a long shot, but it might be plausible." Sayaka said.

"You don't have to go alone, Mami-san, we got your back!" said Homura.

"Sorry, something personal is driving me to test my own skill. I remember fighting Akuma once and losing embarrassingly. I need to defeat her, and overcome myself alone. You posess skills as a magus greater than us, but tomorrow's fight is my own." 

It was late at night, and James was heading back to Madoka's house. As he was heading to the door, Madoka's mom arrived in a cab. "Yoooo. Where you beeen? We missed youu!" she said, in a very slurred voice. She was about to collapse, and James caught her and helped her to the door. "Self-discovery, I'll explain when you're more sober."

After some rest, Madoka's mom weakly said, "I vaguely remember asking you a question, what was that?"

"You asked where I was for the past two days. It's hard to explain, I nearly was killed when I was out with my friends and was separated, with my cellphone breaking in the process. I spent today trying to find my way."

"Seems legit." she said "I've done stupider things when I was your age. I once got a little too close to some suspicious folk and got hit by some bullet shrapnel when I was doing night wandering at 17. My parents, to this day, do not know."

They both chuckled.

"But seriously, you need to be careful from now on." she added

"I'll try." James said.

"When you're old enough, maybe all three of us should go out drinking." said Madoka's mom.

"Oh, Mom..." he replied.

The next day, Madoka and James were talking on the way to school. "Why do you have to be so reckless, James? I don't want you to die!"

"It's a long story, you wouldn't understand it." James said.

"I'm your sister, you don't need to hide anything from me." she replied.

James kept his head down, frustrated. But he remembered he just was saved by the alternate universe form of her.

"Okay, I'll show you later." James said.

After class, he brought Madoka to the apartment. "Where's Mami? I didn't even see her today at school." he asked Sayaka.

"She's been out all day looking for Homura Akuma." said Sayaka.

"Huh?" asked Madoka.

"You know the girl who gave you the ribbons?" said Homura. "The one who has been gone since I came in and filled in for her? She's my evil 'twin', we have been tracking her down, she's been terrorizing the streets with familiars and us magical girls are going to stop her."

"I told you the new term we're using is 'magi'!" said Sayaka. "We need a gender-neutral term now that James is now one!"

"Is this some sort of anime thing?" asked Madoka.

"Yeah, kinda." said James.

They all went to search for Mami, bringing Madoka with them. They were attacked by Mami familiars and James transformed and slashed all three of them in half with his longsword.

"Yeah, this is what we do." said James

To be continued.


	11. Accomplish the Impossible

"So," Madoka asked as they were searching for Mami. "How is it like being magi?"

"We've become accustomed to it." answered Sayaka. "Even though our souls are detached from our bodies, I think being able to now hold it gives us a new purpose in life. Kinda keeps the edge off."

"Back when we last encountered Akuma, she led me to realize my past." said Homura, "Whether you realize this or not, Madoka, I became a magus to help protect you. Now that I have literally become my own enemy, I must help Mami. I, too must fight myself." She stopped and turned towards Sayaka and James. "I can do it with the help of all of us."

They heard gunshots from not that far away.

"We must be getting close" said James.

They approached a courtyard, and sure enough, Mami was in fierce competition with the familiar of herself. Madoka moved to hide from the action.

There was a nearly incomprehensible mess of gunfire. Both foes were trying to outsmart the other with their shared tactics.

However, Mami finally was becoming fatigued, and the familiar was showing few signs of being the same.

In front, Homura Akuma was taunting her. "Pathetic. Can't hold a candle to a mirror image of yourself. You really thought self-reliance would get you somewhere. Finish the job."

The familiar summoned a large cannon, warbled a distorted cry to the extent of "_Tiro Finale!"_ and fired a fatal shot at Mami. However, James shielded the attack. Akuma motioned for the familiar to halt.

He helped Mami up, "I'm sorry, I was being a fool, again" she said

"Trust me, we all were at one point" said Sayaka.

Akuma was sarcastically clapping. "Well look what we have here. The whole gang."

"You bet." said James. "You lose, _devil" _

"You were always the cocky one, Kozuki." Akuma said. "It will kill you one day."

She leapt out of the way and motioned for the Prime Mami familiar to continue and it leapt to attack James, its biggest threat. Homura fired shots at it and threw it off course. It ended up facing off against Sayaka. Sayaka used her blades to block its musket shots.

Sayaka tag teamed with Homura and grabbed her arm with one arm to join with her time stopping and sliced all the musket balls in her path with another. She managed to get a clean blow on the Prime Mami familiar and disabled it for a few seconds.

Mami then locked into combat with the familiar and it served as the perfect distraction for James to play an ambush. He tried to lay the finishing blow but this one seemed to have learned from the Prime Kyoko familiar's defeat. It tried encasing him with ribbons, but he easily cut out of them.

He throws an air slash with his sword which the familiar dodges. He shielded against the incoming bullets.

He was unable to to get close enough to actually go for the kill. He needed to try something new to lay the finishing blow.

However, Mami and Homura distracted it with more covering fire, and James came up with something. He pointed the sword horizontally towards the Prime Mami familiar almost as if it were a gun. "Please make this work." he told himself. And alas, he managed to fire a huge laser from his sword that decimated the familiar.

Akuma was speechless. She then said sheepishly "After all these times I tried to protect Madoka, why is it gonna fail again?"

"Why do you say that?" Madoka said, coming out of hiding.

"No! Madoka! Don't!" said James "She'll kill you!"

Madoka ignored him and told Akuma, "I'm right here. Why must you worry?"

Akuma fell to the ground breaking down in tears. "You _are _the Madoka I knew! But at this rate _he…" _pointing to James. "...is going to turn you into the Madoka I never wanted. The one who sacrificed herself!"

The normal Homura joined the conversation. "Why? Why would I not be thankful? She was happy. It was the best idea for all of us and you mucked it up." 

Akuma retorted, "You know _damn _well the shit we went through to prevent this from happening the first time. I have said that naivety will result from kindness, carelessness from boldness, and NO GRATITUDE WILL COME FROM TRYING TO PROTECT SOMEONE. You were the weak link I tried to purge, but you will never escape me, apparently."

Madoka finally realized everything. She told Akuma, "I remember a Homura who was like you. But through it all, she didn't try and split your soul and mine in the name of 'the greater good.' You used to be my best friend, but you are NOT the Homura I remember."

The god Madoka in James's ring spoke to him. "It is time to part ways." With a tear of sentimentality and happiness, he removed the ring and tossed it to Madoka.

"**NO!**"exclaimed Akuma, as Madoka grabbed the ring containing her true soul.

In a flash of pink light, Madoka donned a pink dress and her eyes grew gold. She wielded a wooden bow with cherry blossoms.

With Akuma still speechless, she turned to James. "You want to fight with me, brother?"

"Absolutely" he replied.

"What do you wish for, in exchange for your soul?" she asked.

James paused for a second. "To fight alongside my friends, and see it to the end."

She reached out her hand and released a beige soul gem from his chest. He grabbed it and transformed into a similar frilled-collar uniform to the one he wore before, except beige and brown instead of white, and his eyes remained blue.

He summoned the longsword that has become his companion.

Then, suddenly, not only Nagisa arrived to see what was about to go down, but also Kyoko, weak looking from a several days coma, but very much alive.

"Wh… How did you do that?" Akuma asked.

"With magic, anything's possible. And with hope, you can accomplish the impossible." said Madoka. "Maybe hopeless people like you will get the message."

Akuma was about to snap. It was on.

Three magi stepped up to face Homura Akuma.

Homura Akemi: The persona of the former innocence and perceived naivety of the Homura entity who became a formidable ally of her own accord.

James Kozuki: The brash and kind fellow who came out of nowhere who until recently was holding a key part of the soul of Madoka Kaname.

Madoka Kaname: The girl who changed the world

To be continued.


	12. Braid

The three faced off against Akuma.

Akuma made the first move by shooting her own arrows at Madoka, blocking it with her own bow.

James took the opening and made a swing at Akuma with his broadsword. He was easily blocked and thrown to the side.

"Damn." he thought. "I must be weaker than when I was carrying Madoka's soul."

Homura, wielding two handguns, fired at Akuma. She teleported, dodging Homura's shots. Akuma was about to make a fatal arrow shot against her when Madoka retaliated with her own arrow shot knocking her out for a couple seconds.

This gave Homura time to grab a katana out of her shield and approach Akuma. "We used to be one and the same, now let's end this." Homura said.

"Bring it nerd." Akuma said, grabbing a katana of her own out. She and her clashed swords. Each blow was aiming for the kill. Madoka couldn't aim properly, in fear of hitting the wrong one. "Why do you persist in your weakness?" Akuma asked Homura as they were exchanging blows. "You could be so much more."

"I'd rather be weak and with my friends, than be strong yet alone. I did what you were too blind to do. Be friends with Madoka, not violently obsess over her. That is how I…" Homura's sword was then disarmed by Akuma. Before she could make a killing strike, James came in and he made a fierce strike that hit Akuma in the stomach, stunning her.

"That's how she was able to win her over." he said. Akuma violently attacked him with her katana. He could parry, but couldn't get in an opening to attack. When he was almost out of breath, she went for a decapitation, but she was countered by getting shot by Homura's handguns. She was then shot by Madoka. And then Homura made a intense move that finished her off. Homura Akuma was no more and Homura Akemi was the victor.

Akuma vanished, but left a red ribbon, like the one Madoka was given.

Homura put it on. She also undid the braids she ususally wore. "I was started to hate those braids, I liked that devil's straight look better."

Madoka looked shocked that she would like anything about Akuma. "Hate everything else though, just liked the hair."

The rest returned. Kyoko and Mami, after being dead for a couple days and getting beaten down respectively, were quickly getting back to full strength. "I remember you always ditched the glasses after putting your hair down." said Sayaka.

"I think they go well with the ribbon. Plus I feel no need to correct my vision with magic." Homura replied.

"Can we not fight anything tomorrow?" asked James, probably the most exhausted out of all of them.

"Until we can find where Kyubey is, we can take a nice, long, break." said Mami.

"Good" said James, crashing.

to be continued.


	13. The Point

No one would dare question it. Kyosuke was a monster on the violin.

Kyosuke was signed up to participate in a violin competition performing Stravinski's Elegy and everyone came to cheer him on.

"How does Kyosuke get the money to buy these expensive instruments?" Kyoko asked when they were heading to the concert

"Maybe they learned not to steal and freeload," Sayaka replied, sarcastically

"Hey, I do my part! I-" Kyoko never finished her thought.

"At least you're not just a body taking up space in Mami's apartment." remarked James

"Kay, that's crossing the line." Kyoko said, laughing

"You're taking dying pretty lightly" said Homura

"She has slept longer than she was dead for before. According to her she just took another one of those long naps." Sayaka replied

"Except when I sleep for three days straight, I haven't gotten stabbed and shot." Kyoko added

"Gosh, you're so nonchalant" said Madoka.

Six months after the defeat of Akuma, James can finally feel at peace.

Kyosuke gave an exceptional performance. It was almost if someone in the audience was driving him to do exceptionally

They all greeted him after the concert. "You did so well, Kamijo-san!" said Madoka

"Thanks, Kaname-san, I should get the results back tomorrow afternoon" Kyosuke

Sayaka and Kyosuke talked alone for a little while.

"I have to leave, Kyosuke, I have to do something" she said

"That's fine Sayaka, see you tomorrow" Kyosuke replied

Sayaka and James were working on swordfighting together at the park.

James was able to dodge or parry virtually all of her swings and eventually broke her defenses and brought her to swordpoint.

"Excellent. You've gotten a lot better over these past few months." Said Sayaka.

Nagisa and Kyoko were spectating. "Kozuki-san won!" Nagisa proclaimed.

"Or maybe you just suck, Sayaka." Kyoko jabbed. Sayaka responded with a raspberry.

"I'm starting to catch up with when I had Madoka's soul. She had a powerful soul, but I intend to make my abilities my own." James said.

A couple days later it was the first day of the new school year. "Ninth grade." said Junko. "One more year and you'll be in high school."

James was struggling to comprehend what she meant. He finally realized that High School didn't start until Tenth Grade instead of Ninth Grade which he was in the states.

Before school, they went to say tearful goodbyes to Mami, who was finally moving on to high school.

Despite the sad news, they were overjoyed when they found out Nagisa was moving on to the Middle School with them.

"Wow, middle school is so exciting!" she said as she entered the school.

Kyoko and Sayaka chuckled

James, Madoka, Homura, Sayaka, and Kyoko began their first day of ninth grade without a hitch.

"You did awesome in math today!" Madoka told James during lunch.

"To be honest I had no idea what I was doing", he replied.

"You did better than Kyoko, who doesn't know how to find 'x'" said Kyosuke as he joined the table with Sayaka.

"Hey Kyosuke," said James

"But 'x' was _there. _What was I supposed to do?!" Kyoko retorted.

"Find the value of 'x' that will get the given answer!" Nagisa replied.

Kyoko reddened, having just been schooled by Nagisa.

"Well, the results came in" Kyosuke said.

"And?" Homura asked.

"Going to finals!" he finished.

They were all ecstatic. Their day couldn't get any better.

The magi met at Mami's apartment, where James had a development.

"There was this man I met six months ago named Q. He wants to meet me tonight. I don't think you should come. It might be dangerous"

"Are you sure you're up for this? You may be skilled, but even I needed help eventually" said Mami.

"I might be able to find out where Kyubey is. If he can help us find him, we may finally get a straight answer." James replied.

"He's got a point" said Homura

"Be very careful!" said Madoka, tears were starting to form- out of fear.

James texted Mrs. Kaname: "i'll be late tonight, i have an errand to run"

He met Q at the park bench.

"So, I guess you are wondering why I brought you here." Q said.

"What about it?" James replied.

Q brandished his ruby ring and his outfit transformed into a red and black trenchcoat. He now carried two ebony shortswords.

"I am a magus just like you. Now that I know you are one I have something we need to do," he said

"I'm listening"

"There are still familiars lurking around even after the Akuma persona was vanquished. I want your help to take them out."

"I have some friends that can help as well"

"No" Q said. "Your battle harem will freak out. We need to do this alone to seal the deal once and for all."

"Okay, so let's…go" James was starting to get nervous.

They traveled into a dark alleyway. No familiars were around.

Q primed one of his swords. Three Kyoko familiars popped out.

Q easily took one of them out by breaking its defenses and decapitating it.

James took two at once. Their range was a bit of an issue. He needed to get up close and using air slashes would likely damage the buildings. He found an opening to slide down and slash one in the leg and finish it off with a two-for. The other was pretty straightforward as he was already pretty close. He locked his broadsword with the familiar's spear and when he broke its defenses he impaled it through the chest to defeat it.

A Mami familiar was down the alley firing at them; its bullets nearly hitting James. James ran across the alley on the walls and hit the ground with a slash to take the Mami familiar out.

"That's great work," said Q. "There _should _be some more around here, but…"

He ran James through with a sword and he collapsed.

"Let's just say I'm done here."

"I can heal that off, you bastard." James said.

"No matter, you won't be getting up for a good while. You are exactly where I want to, just like how it's always been."

James retorted, "So I guess this was all your design, _Kyubey._"

_To be continued. _


	14. Repaying A Debt

Q was intrigued by James's accusation. "So, I guess you put two and two together. I'm surprised you managed to pull it off," he said sarcastically.

James was going to make some witty comeback, but it wouldn't come out.

"Allow me to explain my situation." Kyubey said. "Being one of the smartest creatures in our known universe, us incubators have created an empire of several planets. However, we had a strict hierarchy and those who dared cross the line were exiled to planets belonging to the humans, who was among the strongest. I dared to speak against our imperial regime and was exiled here."

"You want me to feel sympathy, you bastard?" James sneered.

"No, but you should know I wanted to gather strength. Since incubators lacked strength, we used magic to make magic soldiers out of the strongest of our allied species. This magic required a strong soul, so I decided to create soldiers myself but targeting weak souls and absorbing them when they inevitably collapsed. When questioned, I use the convincing pseudoscience of thermodynamics and claimed I was restoring consumed energy of the world. In reality I was just accumulating energy for myself to take this world. Gets 'em every time. In fact, the form I assumed was a variant of one I stole from Sayaka Miki.

"Wait, you want to wage war against your species?" said James.

Kyubey paused. "Yes."

With a bloody hand, he grabbed Kyubey's. "You don't have to deceive anyone into making yourself stronger. As hard as you try, you can't tackle your problems by yourself. Homura found this out. As much as she originally wanted to reject it, she found out we can fight our battles together. The soldiers you created have gone beyond energy sources and became heroes and even gods. If you want to fight your species, we can help. You don't have to fight by yourself.

_You are not alone."_

Kyubey stepped back against the wall. He grabbed a sword… and attacked James. James parried.

"You fool; do you think your fairy tales will work against the Incubators!? Their forces are at Madoka's strength and above! You have no idea!" Kyubey said. James broke the clash and knocked Kyubey back and he ran off for better cover. Kyubey searched the area to find James. He heard the clattering of rocks in one area and followed that noise.

He then got punched and knocked out.

"What are waiting for James? Let's get the hell out of here!" said Kyosuke. He grabbed James's hand and they ran with

Kyosuke stopped after a while, heaving. "I think we lost him."

James noticed Kyosuke was holding his arm. "Is your arm okay?"

"Yeah, I might've sprained it punching that guy. I should be asking you. You got stabbed, and you are back on your feet. Are you one of those soldiers he was talking about?"

"Yes, I have regenerative abilities. That just incapacitated me for a second. Why did you help me?"

"I was afraid you were in danger." Kyosuke replied. "Ever since I starting going out with Sayaka, I felt like I needed to be more active in helping her and her friends out in any way I can, just like she tirelessly does."

James said, "You're not mad at me doing secret magic stuff?"

"Not at all, in fact I respect you, you put your life on the line to protect us from the things we don't know, and don't want to know."

James paused. "Sayaka is one too. In fact, all of our friends are."

Kyosuke was speechless.

"What's more, we were granted a wish in return for becoming a magus, that's why you can play violin again. However, the one who granted our wish deceived us and never mentioned we would turn into what we sought to destroy. But that was in an alternate universe that was changed by the wish of Madoka. You're getting that?"

"I think I understand." Said Kyosuke. He gave him a big warm hug. "Hey man, I want to help you guys as much as I can. You, Sayaka, and the others don't have to save the world's ass by yourself."

"I guess you're right." James said. "Let's go to Mami's place, we can rest up there."

Madoka gave James another big bear hug when they arrived. "Don't do something that stupid again!" she said. He smiled, knowing he was way too reckless.

"Everything went not according to plan. Turns out that Q was Kyubey and he pretty much orchestrated the whole familiar thing." James said

"So it wasn't Akuma." said Homura.

"I guess he wanted her to think she was in control. He must have been watching us." James replied

He told them what Kyubey told him.

"So Kyubey flat-out lied to us, he LIED!" said Kyoko

"He lied." Sayaka said.

"That's what I just said" Kyoko replied.

"Well, it would be best if we sent some of us to check around and see if we can find anything else on him."

Sayaka was tending to Kyosuke's sprained arm.

"It was me who rescued him from Kyubey." Kyosuke replied "I want to repay the debt I owe to Sayaka and help fight."

They were all silent.

"Because of my miracle-granting powers I can give you the power to fight with us." Said Madoka "Is this what you wish for?"

"Absolutely"

Madoka extracted a warm brown soul gem from Kyosuke.

"I won't let you guys down." He said

"We'll go right after school to look for Kyubey. It's best if we get some rest" Mami said.

James and Madoka made it home. Mr. Kaname was glad to see them safe and they went to bed.

As James went to sleep, he asked himself, "What's going to happen next? More importantly, is there more to this?"

_To be continued. _


	15. Wrath of the Gods

Everyone went to school with much anticipation. The thing they would be watching after school is extremely dangerous.

All of them met at Mami's apartment that evening.

"We'll split up in groups" she said. "Homura is with Nagisa and Sayaka. Kyoko is with Kyosuke and I'll be in a group with James and Madoka."

"Got it" said Homura. They all went in separate directions looking for any info on Kyubey's further action. Kyoko and Kyosuke went to the park, Homura's group went to the mall, and Mami, James, and Madoka searched the alleyways.

James was trembling. He was not looking forward to possibly facing Kyubey's newfound power again. Mami was rubbing his shoulders to help ease his pressure. It actually did some good.

"I suppose you never saw Kyubey in this form." said James.

"No, he was a rodent like thing. Deceptively cute looking. I actually trusted it for much longer than I probably should have" said Madoka.

"He shouldn't pick too much of a fight. There's one of him and three of us." Mami said.

They heard some movement to the north. They softly moved towards the noise.

"What are we going to do when we find him?" asked Madoka.

Mami shrugged "I dunno, I'm making this up as I go."

They were reaching a dimly lit courtyard.

"I think I see him." whispered James.

He was right. He nudged the other two back.

Not only was Kyubey there, but a couple of strange people and even stranger, another rodent incubator, but black, yellow, and important looking.

They eavesdropped on their conversation.

"Oh, Kamey, so, uh, what brings you here?" Kyubey said.

"Cut the crap, Nameless, you know why I'm here" the incubator they assumed was "Kamey" said. Unlike Kyubey in his rodent form he had a distinctly deep voice.

"I beg your pardon?" said Kyubey.

"Do you think you can create two god-level soldiers that can bend the fabric of space and time around them without me noticing!?" said Kamey. "Obviously you're full of shit. Destroying your name and exiling you to Earth perhaps wasn't enough."

"_**I have more physical power than any other Incubator has ever had. I can be of use to our race. Is that enough to let me back!?" **_Kyubey boldly proclaimed.

"Need I remind you, I have been watching your every move since you created the second god-level six months ago. Do you think it's appropriate to exert more power than me!? I also heard your little conversation with the human on how you want to take over."

Kyubey's smile and optimism faded.

"Of course, that won't be the case for long." said Kamey

He glared at Kyubey and absorbed all of his corrupted souls

Kyubey was back to square one. A measly rodent. Kamey assumed Kyubey's human appearance.

"So this is what it feels like." said Kamey. "However, I exceed you in responsibility. I might be able to take this world when I don't obey the whims of little 14 year old schoolgirls."

"But before that I have to take out the trash."

After Kamey said that, he summoned a magic staff.

Kyubey noticed Madoka and Mami and said, "I'm sorry."

And just like that, in a blinding burst of light, Kyubey was reduced to mere dust by Kamey.

All three were dumbstruck. Madoka was almost to tears.

Kyubey wasn't the only one who noticed the three of them.

Kamey told the two humanoids with him "Kill them."

One of them dashed with a sword. James transformed and blocked the soldier's blows. The humanoid soldier was battle hardened and tough and took several blows from James without being phased.

The other had a rifle and was firing at them. Madoka ran into the courtyard to divert its attention and fired her bow at the soldier. It was able to take several arrows to no effect. She had to keep running if she didn't want to get hit.

While their attacks didn't affect the environment, there was still a concern with Mami. "_If I use Tiro Finale, I might hit one of them. I need to draw them out into the open_", she thought to herself.

Mami telepathically said, "Madoka, draw the soldier to the park where James is fighting the swordsman."

"Already taken care of." Madoka replied.

Prior to her discussion, Madoka had an opening and fired an arrow into the sky, unleashing a fatal airstrike of several full power arrows.

"Oh, right- god-level." Mami muttered.

James wasn't so lucky with the swordsman. He didn't have the time nor the space to unleash his Beam Cannon on the soldier and he couldn't land any fatal blows on it.

"James, get down." Mami said. Seeing Mami's giant cannon from a roof, he knew he had to bolt.

With a "_Tiro Finale" _the soldier was decimated.

"Well I guess that's that." said Madoka.

She was about to bite her words. They were surrounded by swordsmen.

But not for long, as the were reduced to dust by powerful flames accompanied by energeting violin music.

The culprit? Kyosuke Kamijo, wearing a brown and tan tuxedo, finishing his last note.

"That's OP as hell." said James

_To be continued. _


	16. Pure Chaos

It was about a week and none of the magi had encountered Kami since the previous fight. Many questions loomed in their heads about Kami's intentions and how they'll be able to face something that was able to kill even Kyubey!

During the Performing Arts Center's downtime James found Homura around there fiddling with her shield. "Oh hi, didn't see you there, James." she said

"Sorry I startled you." James replied.

"I don't know what's about to happen the next few days. Kami may be preparing to destroy the earth for all we know." said Homura

"If he wants to fix the mess Kyubey made, then he might be left with no other choice." James replied.

"Well, I've seen some armageddon-level carnage before. So, anything could happen."

They go to school the next day. With the exception of the threat of potential incubator king apocalypse, it went by pretty normal.

"Well I've been practicing my butt off and I think I'm ready for tonight's finals competition." said Kyosuke at lunch.

"You'll do great." James said.

James ended up walking with Sayaka, who wanted to go practice swordplay. They bumped into a familiar green-haired individual.

"Oh, 'scuse me." Sayaka said.

"That's fine" Hitomi replied.

They were about to pass their separate ways when Hitomi said, "Tell Kyosuke I have no hard feelings."

"Okay" Sayaka said casually, confused by the dramatic execution of that statement.

It was early in the evening and they finished their now one-sided sparring matches. James wiped a bit of sweat off his forehead while Sayaka struggled to catch her breath. "You're good." she said

They were walking home after practice and Sayaka started to act odd.

"Are you alright?" James asked.

"Nothing, just a feeling something really bad is about to happen."

Later that night was Kyosuke's finals competition.

His performance was intense. Fueled by his new passions, he had new drive to perform the best he could be.

Everyone noticed, with a standing ovation.

"Bravo!" "You rock!" "I think I'm falling in love!" were statements from several members of the crowd.

"You did awesome, you practically have it in the bag." said Sayaka.

"Eh, I had a couple hiccups, but other than that, pretty darn good." Kyosuke replied.

There was a suspicious man in the audience.

"Oh no." said James.

Kamey threw a fireball at the stage. Everyone ran for the exits. The fire alarms were going off. Sprinklers were active. Everything was pure chaos.

This wasn't just magic attacks that cause no threat to the environment like they usually do. Kamey was intentionally wreaking havoc.

James, Madoka, Homura, Sayaka, Kyoko, Mami, and Kyosuke transformed.

Madoka began with her strongest attacks on Kamey. All to no effect.

James fired a sword beam and made several volleys, also fruitless.

The rest tried attacking to no effect. It was painful to watch.

Then Kamey made his next move. Firing a blast at Madoka's gem, killing her instantly.

"**NO!" **shouted Homura who made fruitless efforts to fire her strongest artillery, with reckless disregard for property damage.

"I would suspect killing Madoka would wear off her miracles." Kamey said "But I was wrong. Which means someone _else_ is powering these miracles."

"What are you trying to prove, demon!?" said Kyoko, gallantly unleashing strong attacks. It was to no use. And she was shot down by Kamey.

"Not of your concern." he said.

Sayaka and Mami were the next to be killed who tried double teaming him. His endurance is too much for anyone. Not even for the ones who achieved godhood like Madoka and Homura.

Kyosuke put on quite a show- countering Kamey's fire attacks with slow tempo ice attacks.

He briefly was able to freeze Kamey. But it only lasted a couple seconds and was killed for his efforts.

Homura and James were the only ones left in the burning building. James was about to faint from the fumes.

Homura was crying. "What brought you to do this horrible thing!?"

"I always thought humanity was a feeble, easily controlled species that not even Kyubey could master. And right now you are all proving that."

"Well, let's see if this will be the case…" Homura said. "...next time."

She turned over her shield. Just as the effects were about to take place, James grabbed on to her hand with the little strength he had left.

They were still at the auditorium. She had set a rewind point when he was coming in.

James, trying to get a hang of the whole time traveling thing, and having a migraine, said "Wait, what just happened?"

Homura didn't answer, instead she ran into his chest and started bawling. He tried to stay relaxed, but even he was devastated at the massacre that just took place several hours from then.

_To be continued_


	17. False Memories

"I honestly don't know what to do now" James said. "He's practically invincible, he's killed everyone, burned down a performing arts center, and he has really good looks"

"We, we gotta do something." rambled Homura. "He's gonna destroy the world!" She was about to pass out and James helped her to a bench.

"We just need to warn them of Kamey's attack and maybe some of us can get the surprise on him." considered James.

Homura was starting to get her composure back together. "And how? He's always at least one step ahead of us. In fact, it's more of an average of 6 or 7. We can't surprise him, much less kill him."

"Well, we gotta get a move on" said James. "We gotta at least warn them."

"And what, watch everyone get killed again?"

James was having a major headache.

"You alright?" asked Homura.

"I'm starting to recall memories. Bad memories. I don't think I've had them before."

"We need to go." said Homura, dismissively, still weak and having to hold on to James.

"Good news James, you don't get to see everyone killed again." a familiar voice said.

"Kamey!" exclaimed James.

"Incubators are too smart to be mentally affected by the changing of time" Kamey said.

"What do you plan to do?" James demanded.

"Have you ever wondered why you're here?" asked Kamey "Why this, and should I forget to mention, the last timeline is the only one you are involved in this whole calamity? Why you fail to understand what really happened?"

"I have." James said.

"Well, let's clarify a few things." Kamey said.

Kamey tapped his head and they vanished.

"Kozuki-san!" yelled Homura.

* * *

James woke up in a hospital bed.

He was panicking. "What's going on?" he thought, "Was all that a dream?"

A nurse came to assist him. "You feeling well, Kozuki-san? That crash was awful."

"What crash?" he asked.

"Ah," she said. "Must be a bout of amnesia. Don't worry, it happens all the time in these situations."

"Wait." he said as the nurse was leaving, but wasn't fast enough to get a reply.

He saw Kamey perched on a shelf.

"What the hell's going on?" James asked

"When you time travelled with Homura, you and her memories are intertwined." Kamey said. "I only found it fitty to illustrate them for you."

He tried getting out of bed but fell down. He had to pull himself back in the bed and located the crutches that were nearby.

"Your feet were injured in the crash." Kamey said.

"I figured that out by now." said James, frustrated and confused.

James managed to get into the uniform and was admitted out and personally escorted to school by hospital staff.

He got settled quickly. He knew he could ace the 8th grade curriculum since he was technically in the 9th grade, discounting space-time goobly goop.

Most of the guys were talking to him asking questions. "The teacher said you had short-term amnesia. Are you sure you can catch up?"

"Yeah. I've had...uh…really advanced classes before transferring. So, I should be good." James replied.

Most of the girls were talking to Homura, who currently had the braids she had before the fight with Akuma. "It must be a year in the past" James thought.

"Kozuki-san?" Madoka asked him. He turned, surprised.

"Hi, do you happen to need any pain medicine or anything from the nurse's office? I'm the nurse's aide for this class so if there's anything you need, you don't have to bother walking there to get it."

"Oh, yes, please. Thanks Kaname-san" James replied.

"I got to take care of Akemi-san. Maybe we can talk later." she said, smiling.

Since he was injured, he received an exemption from PE and sat near the playground equipment where there was some shade. A few minutes in and Homura was down there too with a towel.

"I guess the gods have cursed us with inferior athleticism. At least you could get out there for two minutes. I'm out with this damn leg." James said.

She kind of looked at him funny and then laid her head down.

He remembered he brought his notebook and some water. He handed Homura one of the bottles.

"Drink this. It'll help clear up your head."

He jotted down the notes he could from his car crash brain. "Here's how that problem was supposed to play out." He explained the problem the best he could.

"Sorry if I couldn't be much help, I'm not as good as Hitomi."

"That's alright." said Homura. "I understand a little better now."

He and Homura walked home together to try and catch up on her work. However, it was becoming clearer that she was in some sort of daze.

He leaned in to her. "Akemi-san. You ok-" He tripped and dropped his crutches. After writhing in pain for a second, he tried to unsuccessfully reach for his crutches. "Great, first no more powers then I can't even control my legs," he snarked. He sat down for a second. "It feels awfully gloom in here." he said to himself.

Then the area around him became heavily distorted and strange familiars started lumbering towards him.

"What is this crayon hellhole?" he asked out loud. However, a couple of pink and yellow flashes saved him. Madoka gave him his crutches. "Are you alright Kozuki-san?"

"I'm alright physically." he said. They giggled. "This is our secret, okay?"

The two finished off the familiars and the field disappeared. By then, James finally got on his feet.

Homura made a beeline for James. "I'm so sorry I ditched you. The familiars pulled me in."

"It's alright." he said.

"Both of you are welcome to come to my place later." said Mami.

"I would love to." said Homura.

"Thanks, but the hospital wants to do late night physical therapy. Sorry." James replied.

"Ah, that's unfortunate. Work hard!" Madoka said.

He returned to his room. "I don't get it." James asked Kamey. "Is this some sort of past timeline?"

"This is, in fact, the exact timeline that occurred before. In fact, you were involved, but never could give the truth in time since you couldn't leave the hospital at night."

"I heard that the magical girls would turn into what they fought."

"You think lightly of that, you will find their fate is much worse than you realize. You will learn how humanity will be slaves to their own fates!"

To be continued.


	18. Sensory Overload

"Kozuki-san, we need to relocate to our makeshift facilities at the music building." a nurse told him

"Is everything alright?" he asked.

"Massive storm coming." she replied. "We are RIGHT in the middle of it."

"I figured as much from school being cancelled."

To save time, they put him on a wheelchair and sent him to the facility. Another staff member brought the crutches as he was leaving

After his physical therapy sessions were over for the evening, he explored the facility. At this point, he had no memory of the place's fate. Other than convenient book knowledge, everything has been forgotten from his future.

While he was not able to be with Homura or Madoka, he tutored her when he could, and that was when she told her of the adventures she had with Madoka.

"For the first time in my life, I felt I had a purpose. I just don't have a wish." she told him one time

"You could just wish back my ability to walk." James sarcastically replied.

"You know you are well on your way to recovery. I don't want to wish something to happen that will happen anyway. In fact, I might hurt you. I don't know what I would do if I hurt you…" she was about to cry.

"It's okay." said James trying to console her. "If a friend needs a little miracle, wish for it."

James was now hoping for a miracle. Because Homura, Madoka, and not even Mami was at the facility. Homura told him of a monster witch, _Walpurgisnacht, _that would come around today. There was no storm.

He did find a couple of familiar faces. Sayaka, who hung around with Madoka, and a familiar face from the hospital, Kyosuke.

"Hey, Kozuki." he said.

"Hey." James replied.

"Do you know where Madoka is?"

"I do not know" he replied. He was half-lying. He knew she was fighting _Walpurgisnacht _but what was going on, he had no idea.

He wished he could help. But he was injured and weak. He had no chance. All he could do is hope and pray a miracle could happen.

Eventually something did happen.

"You feeling well, Kozuki-san? That crash was awful."

That was the exact thing that the nurse asked him the first time.

He made his way to school and the same routine of Homura being introduced. However, something was...different.

She rushed over to Madoka before the teacher could finish and said "I'm now a magical girl too!"

Madoka was confused and embarrassed. Everyone else was confused, except James, who was clapping.

"What?" asked the teacher.

"Oh, it was just a joke we planned out." James said. He whispered to Homura, "That's supposed to be a secret."

"_You know about that?" _asked Homura telepathically. "_We can talk telepathically?" _asked James.

"While you two lovebirds sort that out…" the teacher said with the class erupting in laughter and now James and Homura being embarrassed, "We can continue with the introduction"

James learned anyone who knows the identity of magical girls can talk telepathically. He found it pretty convenient.

James focused really hard on his physical therapy. If he wanted to help Homura and the others, he needed to get on his feet. It was still going very slow.

"This is dead knowledge." he thought to himself. "I can't even use it. Of course, no one believes some time traveler."

Speaking of which, why does he have knowledge of time travel as well?

He talked to Homura about it during a session. "You may have some connection or something. I dunno." she said.

"Now that you mentioned it. This sounds weird, I know, but. I feel I might have had a connection with you… in the future" James said doubtfully.

"It does sound weird" she replied.

"Deja vu, i guess."

He pushed that to the back of his mind.

According to Homura, she was greatly improving. There was many areas to improve, but she was becoming surprisingly competent.

However, _Walpurgisnacht_ was coming and they were running out of time. He was ahead on his therapy, but he still was too weak and the hospital still looked after him. He didn't have a home yet anyways after he lost his family in the accident.

He hoped and prayed Madoka, Mami, and Homura would win this time, but he feared the worst when Homura telepathically urged him to run outside.

He mustered the strength he could to go out, avoiding hospital personnel. He went out as far as he could in the rubble before he was collapsed and bruised. What he could make out was a grotesque black cloud in the horizon turning into a monster.

"_That was from Madoka's soul gem!"_ Homura said frantically.

It was becoming clear to James now. Somehow he knew magical girls might become what they hate the most. But this was insane. It wasn't magical girl vs. evil. It was magical girl facing against magical girl. Their soul gem corrupted into the witches' grief seeds. They fought against each other and Kyubey took the souls.

Suddenly time felt like it was literally escalating faster than ever before. From what he could tell the situation escalated. They eventually go to primal instincts: going to murder and moral depravation just for survival.

What James was getting was that someone wanted to show him something. The overload was killing him until he noticed a glimmer.

He lost count of how many restarts after time fast forwarded. However after that glimmer, he didn't hear "You feeling well, Kozuki-san? That crash was awful." but a welcoming and familiar voice.

He was in the wreckage of a airport taxi. He couldn't tell what was going on, but he could tell there was no survivors.

"Take my hand" said Mami. She shot the stuck seatbelt and helped him out. She was fast enough apparently to save his footing.

"I have a weird question, does soul gems still turn to grief seeds?" he asked abruptly.

"In short, what?" she asked. The concept of a grief seed was unfamiliar to her. "If you don't want to be the wraiths' next victim you better stand back." she added.

_To be continued. _


	19. Suicide Mission

They were all currently surrounded by what Mami called "wraiths".

Her, Sayaka, and Kyoko were on the offense. Mami grappled onto one of the ones floating with ribbons. The wraiths alongside the grappled one fired at her but missed due to her agility and shot them down.

Sayaka and Kyoko stayed on the bridge attacking the stragglers that weren't taken out by Mami. The redhead attacked a group head on, extending her spear to take them out at a distance. Sayaka ambushed a small group and took them out with her dual blades.

"Careful. A shugen unit is coming this way with reinforcements!" Mami called out.

Sayaka and Kyoko closed in on James to protect him.

"They seem to be in a tight formation. I can take them out with Tiro Finale." Mami said.

"Alright, do it." said Kyoko.

Mami leaped into the air and summoned a giant cannon and fired it. She took out most of the units. A couple of the wraiths still stood including the one with a flaming javelin, which he assumed was the shugen wraith.

Kyoko and Mami took on the straggling grunts while Sayaka took on the shugen. It throwed several blades at her and missed with most of them. One of them was deflected by her blades. They crossed their weapons. The fire from the javelin was about to reach her skin unless she broke contact.

She was bailed out by a surge of purple energy.

Homura emerged from the sky wielding an energy bow. The wings that she had vanished.

"We found the person you asked for." said Kyoko. "I don't know why this recently orphaned foreigner was that important to you."

"Let's just say we have a mutual relationship." Homura replied.

Mami quickly went to James's side. "Are you alright? Are you not upset you lost your parents?"

"It's fine. A bunch of stuff happened at once, so I didn't really have any time to grieve." In reality it was because he went through it about six times already.

They all went to Mami's apartment, who served him tea and cake. "It's the least I could do. You must be exhausted" she said.

"I knew skipping school was the right move today. These wraiths are everywhere." said Sayaka.

"And you are the one who said I should go to school more often." Kyoko retorted.

"I said you don't go to school at all!" Sayaka said.

Mami chuckled.

James noticed Madoka wasn't there. "_Why did she not come back?_" he asked himself

"I think some strong wraiths are in the development zone." said Mami. "We need to go there and take them out. Kozuki, stay in the area. We don't want you to be killed after we saved you."

"I understand," James replied

After watching TV for a while, he decided to go for a walk.

When he was taking a stroll on the beach he happened upon Tatsuya, who used to be Madoka's brother.

"Coat-guy?" he asked.

James took a moment and identified the person as himself. "Yes?"

"Superhero?" Tatsuya asked, pointing at the sand.

"Well, let's see." said James.

He thought through his ideas and decided on a clever one.

He drew a crudely drawn version of Madoka with a sand. "It's Madoka. Think of her as your guardian angel big sister from another reality." said James.

Tatsuya was clearly ecstatic at this "Madoka". His reaction showed how surprised at this concept he was and was giddy beyond belief.

"Glad you like her. She's a friend of mine too." he said, and walked off.

He returned to the apartment, watching more TV and reflecting how silly it was showing Tatsuya his big sister who from his recollection only existed as the wish she gave to stop witches.

However, a hunch burned in him that the world was still unsafe from corruption.

Homura came back by herself, confused-looking.

"You okay?" James asked.

"Oh. Yeah." said Homura. She paused. "Sayaka used up all her soul energy to destroy a strong wave of wraiths."

"At least she didn't turn into a witch." James replied

Homura chuckled. "I guess you are the only one who understands the previous timelines." She paused "I need to do one last thing."

"What is it?" James asked

"Come with me and I'll explain."

They walked near the outskirts of the city.

"There's what I believe to be a rift a few blocks ahead where several of the wraiths are spawning from. If I can get in there, there's a chance I can slow their attack on vulnerable areas"

She gave James a flare gun.

"If you think I'm in danger, shoot this off and the rest will come." She chuckled. "It's probably a suicide mission, but it wouldn't hurt."

She then leaped up the nearest building. He followed her movement closely but avoided dangerous situations.

Near the rift there was a horde of wraiths ahead. Homura ambushed them by leaping off the building and firing a volley straight ahead. Dodging the adjacent laser fire, she fired a cluster of arrows into the sky, falling and killing most of the rest.

The stragglers fired directly at her, but she leaped up and fired a second volley to eliminate the rest.

James somehow managed to stay out of sight, which was good since he had no defense except maybe the flare gun.

Homura finally made it to the rift and hastily went inside.

James examined the rift. "That's weird. This looks just like a rift I saw when Homura wandered into a wi- no that can't be."

Reacting to his suspicions. James fired off a flare and after a few moments of hesitation, he felt he had no choice but to follow Homura into the rift.

It was a bizarre and narrow pathway leading to an open area with a door. He saw many pathways around him, mostly defying the laws of physics. No laws seemed to conduct this realm.

When he reached the open area, he was immediately ambushed by several monsters that couldn't be described as wraiths, they could only be described as…

"Witches!" James proclaimed and fired a flare almost out of instinct, not expecting anyone to be in this hellhole.

Sure enough, the witches were torn apart by colored energy, fire, bullets, and bubbles of all things.

His memory was becoming clear. It was clear to him who he was bailed out by. Everyone.

"Kozuki-kun!" exclaimed Nagisa as she embraced him, followed by the rest of his friends from his future timeline

"We looked for hours for you!" said Madoka.

"It felt like weeks" said James

"It sure did to us." said Kyoko "You scared the crap out of us"

"Thank you all." said James.

"No, thank you." said Mami "We wouldn't be free without you interfering with Akuma's upheaval."

"I think this is actually the timeline this actually happens." said Homura.

"Well, one way to find out." said James. "I have to go do it."

"Are you sure you can face whatever comes up without powers?" asked Kyosuke.

"I can't risk mucking up the timeline further. I want this to be the last time the timeline is reset. If I don't see you again, farewell." James said.

"Farewell, brother." said Madoka as James walked through the door.

The corridor was familiar. It was the one in his dream. He had been pursuing Homura through this very corridor. However, there was a face he didn't recall: Kamey.

_To be continued_


	20. Endless Expanse: Finale

"Out of the way Kamey" James said

"So you can repeat your miserable future? I can't let you" said Kamey

"As far as I know, you're why I'm back here in the first place"

"No, it was Homura who started this whole conundrum, remember? She bowed to her despair and everyone had to scramble to fix the problems she caused, including Homura having to kill part of herself."

"So what, if you stop me, it'll get worse"

"And how do you know it'll not get worse by doing this again?"

"Kyubey was lying when he said he completely made up the whole thing about entropy. You can't make the time orderly when it was already in disorder. In fact, sending you back with your memories of the future intact was part of that."

"Why did you send me back, then?"

"I saw the same light I saw in Madoka in you. If my hunch was right, you could act for the good of humanity in the face of despair or fate, and not implode it. But I was wrong about humanity's courage. Go. All you'll do is cause humanity's destruction by chasing fate."

Seeing he had no other choice. James began to go forward, but then he thought for a second. Kamey began to grin.

He then moved to punch Kamey. Startled, he only blocked the blow at the last moment.

James made several futile blows, all of them blocked.

Kamey pulled out his staff and James ran for cover as he started firing off bolts of fire.

"Surprising, but foolish without any powers." he said.

Finding an opening, James began to make his move, but he was blown back by Kamey's telepathy.

Through strength of will, he was eventually able to begin inching towards him. "What the heck am I doing?" James thought.

Kamey charged and blew James back to an open area.

James made a final charge at Kamey before taking the full force of one of Kamey's fireballs, throwing his body several meters.

Kamey began to examine the aftermath of the curbstomp.

"You almost convinced me of humanity's courage." Kamey said. "But you throwing away your life like that was worthless."

Kamey walked away from the aftermath.

"You want to know what I wished for?" said James.

"You're still alive!?" exclaimed Kamey.

"I wished to fight alongside my allies and see their fight to the end. If you have no faith in humanity's courage, then I'll prove it to you here and now!"

"Like hell!" Kamey fired another shot at full blast.

As he fired, a flash of blue light emerged from the fireball.

James emerged wearing beige and white robes. He was carrying a broadsword scabbard in his left hand. He pulled out the glowing blue sword as Kamey watched in astonishment. When he opened his eyes, they were not the dull blue they were before, but a bright, glowing blue.

He fired again, but James dodged it and was able to get a few hits on Kamey. He was still unaffected. James had to bypass what was protecting him.

Kamey threw him back. It was barely enough to throw him a couple feet. He continued throwing fireballs at him and James's newfound stamina allowed him to just dodge them.

As James was on a firm defensive, he was trying to find a way to bypass Kamey's shield. "There must be a power source" he thought. "I wonder"

He charged straight at Kamey, who now had a perfect opportunity for a direct hit. James, however, slashed through every one. When he got in range of Kamey, he made a swing to the right and sliced his staff clean in half. Without a weapon, he was wide open and took the next swing right in his abdomen.

It was a clean hit and some of his blood flew in the direction of the swing. Kamey hunched over, perplexed and in shock.

James sheathed his sword and reverted to his civilian form. "If you hate me so much, why don't you kill me?" Kamey said.

"I didn't hate you. In fact I respected you even more for your motives. I will _not _kill you" James replied. "I just wanted to prove that our fate is only what we make it to be."

"Well, you restored my faith in humanity, Kozuki. No man would be brave enough or strong enough in heart to deny the incubator god's judgement of humanity. Now we can take steps to rebuild."

"What are you suggesting?"

Kamey summoned another staff at James and went to his incubator form. "We are going to stop Homura from luring herself into the trap."

"From the looks of things, she is being lured into a witch lair thinking she'll just fade into the law of cycles when she uses all her energy to defeat a horde of what appear to be wraiths singlehandedly"

"Then she'll lose her mind, cast her compassionate self and irreversibly tear Madoka in two as well, at least until you fixed some of the damage."

"Am I a little too late after our little scuffle?"

Kamey jumped on his shoulder. "I'm an omniscient God who knows past, present, and future, just like you! Who the hell do you think I am? Open the door."

James went through. He saw Homura slowly approaching the false wraiths. "Wait up!"

"What are you doing, James?" Homura asked "You don't want to watch what's about to happen."

"More than you realize." James said. "This place is one big trap."

"What's on your shoulder" asked Homura

"We'll touch base later, honey" Kamey said.

"He takes getting used to" said James. "Anyway, I have figured out this is actually a witch lair. If you use all of your energy, you'll become one just like the 'good old days'"

"Well, I'm kinda out of options here. I'm the only one here with powers."

"Well, as a friend told me once…" he transformed and the rest of the magi, including Sayaka, Nagisa, Kyosuke, and even Madoka at her full power appeared, "...you are not alone"

Everyone began hugging Homura, overjoyed to see her full again.

"Not to be a party pooper here, but the false wraiths are still advancing" said Kamey.

"You befriended that thing!?" asked Sayaka.

"What else would I do, kill God?" James retorted.

"Fair enough" she replied.

"We got a large wave ahead of us" said Mami, already having Tiro Finale summoned. "We need all the firepower we can get"

"Well let's start!" said Kyoko.

With everyone ready, Mami fired Tiro Finale and Madoka fired a full power arrow to begin the assault.

With those two shots, they made a sizable opening. Leaving the other six to begin their charge.

Sayaka and Kyoko took the left flank. The false wraiths fired their lasers at them and Sayaka was able to dodge with her agility while Kyoko blocked them with her spear. When they got in range, Kyoko isolated the group and took most of them out with broad strikes while Sayaka ambushed the rest.

James took the right and charged at them, dodging and blocking all shots taken at him. He used Kamey's staff for area control to take out most of the concentrated group with a series of fireballs. The rest were quickly handled with his blade.

The rest handled the middle. Kyosuke surrounded them with a wall of fire and they were immobilized by Nagisa's bubbles that were frozen by Kyosuke. They were then finished off by Homura.

When the smoke cleared, Kyubey was at the end. "I'm surprised you managed to make it through that. How your...friends made found their way here is a complete mys-."

He saw the incubator on James's shoulder "Kamey!"

"Your little scheme won't happen a second time." Kamey said "With all your talk of using human souls to refuel Earth's energy, it was really telling for you to just let Homura not allow souls to be spent in the first go-around"

"What?" he replied.

"I once lost my faith in humanity's self-worth, but now I have a new mission: to help them stop you from using their lacking courage for your own gain, Kyubey!"

"Well, mind the pun, but I'm afraid the cat's out of the bag now." said Kyubey. "But there's something you still don't know. I was the one who released Walpurgisnacht every time."

"You did not!" said Mami.

"I was gaining power at a slow rate, but I knew I could release a tidal wave of despair by releasing a fraction of my souls and then hiring a cronie to start the whole timeline over fruitlessly." He glanced at Homura, shocked.

"What did you want to gain from this, Kyubey!?" asked James.

"Didn't I tell you? I wanted to prove that someone besides the high and mighty Kamey can make it big in life." he said.

"That's already been proved to me." said Kamey "Except it was proven by the people who did it not for their selfish lust for power, but for their love for the people they loved, people like Madoka, James Kozuki, Homura. All you proved is how you can make a mess of things!"

Kyubey snapped and assumed human form "**Walpurgis isn't the only witch I can summon! It's an ant compared to what I can do."**

"Calm down Kyubey. There's a way to make things right."

Kyubey seized Homura and there was a blinding flash of light.

What James and the others witnessed was a towering monstrosity. It was a huge mass of of tendrils that Madoka and Mami only described as "Omnicide", for lack of a better name.

"How are we gonna kill this thing?" asked Sayaka.

James assumed a battle-ready stance. "I don't know."

* * *

"At this rate, the world. No the entire universe, will die in mere moments at the hands of every soul I possess." Kyubey said

"Why are you throwing it all away?" asked Homura, who was in the beast with him.

"I've lost Kamey's attention. So, last resort!" he said.

"Where has this brought you!?" she said, in tears.

"I'm currently unstoppable. Not even Madoka can end this."

"And what then? What will you do after stomping over every problem you face?"

* * *

"Our strongest attacks have no effect." said James.

"I've lost count how many Tiro Finales I've used." said Mami.

"Took you long enough to realize." said Kyoko.

"Shut up! This is serious." said Sayaka.

"I agree, we need to concentrate everything we've got at once. That's our best bet." said James.

* * *

"I'll be God instead of Kamey!" said Kyubey.

"Over whom? The empty space you destroyed!?"

Kyubey was furious and silent.

"I hated you so much before." said Homura. "But for once I want you to not hurt yourself like this."

"And what do you suppose we do?"

* * *

"All right let's give it everything we got!" said Mami.

At once, Mami fired multiple Finale cannons, Kyoko and Sayaka assaulted the monster's appendages, dodging any energy blasts it fired with all their might, Kyosuke and Nagisa fired their strongest flames and bubbles, Madoka fired her arrows and James his staff.

* * *

They felt the energy erupting inside the monster.

"How!?" said Kyubey.

"Kyubey! I want humans to just live their lives and the incubators can live theirs. No magical girls, no contracts, just peaceful lives."

"But I wasn't lying how the world will deplete its energy, no matter my ulterior motive!"

"Through my experiences, I know death is just as important as life. Extending it will just bring further misery."

Kyubey never thought of that. Every effort anyone made to lengthen life was responded by twofold pain and suffering. Including his own efforts.

He chuckled

"I guess you won." He reached out to hug her. "I'm sorry."

She hugged back "Goodbye brother."

* * *

"It's open. Now's your chance to get her, sis!" said James.

Madoka nodded. She flew towards the opening they made. Homura was waiting there. They grabbed hands as another blinding flash of light appeared.

* * *

In an endless expanse of green, there was just two. The black incubator and the white incubator.

"Lord Kamey, words can't describe how sorry I am. But nothing can be done for repentance now."

"Nonsense, young Kyubey. In the end you realize the balance of life and death. For that I am proud."

"Home feels much better than it was all those many years ago."

"It belongs to us. Just as Earth belongs to them. A lesson I myself have learned."

* * *

Madoka woke up. It felt like she was in a long and scary dream.

"She's finally awake" a voice said. "The weekend can do that to you."

"James!? What are you doing in my bedroom?"

"Mom sent me to check on you. After all, we are planning on hanging with our friends, are we?"

"Oh, right…" she said, confused.

When they met at the park, everyone was there, Sayaka, Kyosuke, Kyoko, Mami, Nagisa, and Homura had just arrived and hugged Homura.

"Why are you so happy?" said Madoka.

"The hospital said my condition was virtually recovered and checked me out early!"

"That's great!" Madoka said.

"Where do we wanna eat, I'm growling" said Kyoko

"You're always growling" said Sayaka, and everyone laughed.

"I heard West Hemisphere Grill was doing good. Why don't we go there?" said Kyosuke.

"That should keep my mind off my 10th grade schoolwork" said Mami.

"I thought you were good at this stuff." said Nagisa.

"High school is a whole new level." she replied.

Nagisa looked scared.

"Last one there's paying!" said Kyoko, running forward.

"Hey wait!" said Sayaka.

James and Madoka kept casually strolling. Mami intentionally stayed last because she knew she could pay up.

At no point from then on out did they ever think of magical girls or supernatural beings. At that point not even Homura knew the events of the past timelines. They were just kids having fun. They were just friends living their lives.

The end.


End file.
